Thursday, May 24, 2007
The program assists low to moderate income people.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN — Though the project is at least a year away, residents of Horvath Mobile Home Park and their business neighbors on North River Road could see a sanitary sewer project built there to alleviate health hazards brought about by outdated sewage treatment facilities.
Trumbull County commissioners Wednesday approved applying $300,000 worth of state Community Development Block Grant money toward a larger project to extend sewers from the Warren city limits on North Park Avenue north to North River Road and west toward the mobile home park, which is in Warren Township.
The $300,000 will be added to $100,000 from the mobile home park and $100,000 from the nearby Glunt Industries factory, which will also be connected to the sewer line.
Alan Knapp, director of the county planning commission, which recommended the project to commissioners, said Thompson Heating and Cooling, Reese Tool and Supply and a couple of other small businesses on North River Road will also be served by the sewer line.
Other benefits
When built as early as mid-2008, the sewer line could also open up development in areas of Warren Township to the west and north of the mobile home park, or areas of Howland to the east of North Park Avenue.
Extending the sewer line north out of Warren might also speed up the possibility of sewering the Basswood, Beechwood and Elmwood road areas just east of North Park Avenue in Howland, Knapp said.
The residents of the mobile home park qualify as low to moderate income, and Glunt Industries has pledged to create 30 new jobs, more than half of them for low to moderate income individuals, Knapp said. The CDBG program requires beneficiaries to be low to moderate income.
Knapp said the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency declared the area a health hazard. The area violates water standards because of failing waste treatment facilities, he said.
Knapp said he will apply for additional state money this year to provide the remaining money needed to carry out the project.
Where money is headed
In all, the commissioners approved the use of $473,000 in CDBG money. The following is a breakdown:
$25,000 to assist low to moderate income property owners with the costs associated with such home repair projects as sewer costs, failing septic systems, failing roofs, furnaces and hot water tanks.
$20,000 to be used as matching money for state grants to help revitalize part of the Bolindale area of Howland.
$10,000 to complete a Community Housing Improvement Strategy study to apply for up to $500,000 in state housing rehabilitation money.
$15,000 for installation of a handicapped-accessible ramp at the Johnston Township Community/Senior Center.
$17,500 for rehabilitation of the Saint Vincent DePaul Society soup kitchen and store on state Route 169 in Howland.
$15,000 to run a county fair housing program.
$70,950 in county planning commission administrative fees.
runyan@vindy.com